This Week in Pilots Hoops…The Portland Pilots (14-6, 2-3 WCC) continue West Coast Conference play by hosting the San Diego Toreros and 24th-ranked Saint Mary’s Gaels at the Chiles Center. Portland and San Diego (4-16, 0-5) meet on Thursday at 7 p.m., while the Gaels (17-3, 5-0) visit on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Game CoverageThursday’s game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Scott Lynn and JodyRunge calling the action. Saturday’s game will nationally televised on ESPNU with Mark Neelyand Tim Welsh on the call. All Portland games will be aired live on the radio on 800 AM (KPDQ)with Bill Johnson providing the play-by-play, including a 30-minute pregame show.

Ticket InformationTickets for all Portland home games are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online atwww.ticketmaster.com, over the phone at (800) 745-3000 or in-person at the Pilot Box Offi ce. TheBox Offi ce will also be open one hour before tip-off for walk-up sales. Saturday is Nacho Night,featuring $5 and a deluxe nacho bar from 3-4 p.m. for $4.

Portland Briefly...• The Pilots dropped a pair of WCC road games at San Francisco (81-74) and Santa Clara (72-59)last weekend. Luke Sikma averaged 23.5 ppg and 12.0 rpg in the two games including a careerhigh29 points against the Broncos.• The Pilots are 10-0 this year at the Chiles Center and 35-4 at home since 2008-09.• The Pilots are rated No. 56 nationally according to the NCAA RPI as of Jan. 24.• Portland is eighth nationally in team three-point percentage (.414).• Nemanja Mitrovic (59) and Jared Stohl (57) have made the second most 3-pointers of any teammatesin the nation. Mitrovic is No. 4 nationally in 3-point pct (.492).• Luke Sikma is leading the WCC and is 11th in the nation in rebounding (10..• Stohl led the nation in three-point percentage last season (.478) and is No. 2 all-time in the WCCin career three-pointers. He currently has 302 career threes and trails only Jeff Fryer (LMU, 363).

About San Diego• The Toreros snapped a six-game losing streak with a 76-65 win over Cal State Bakersfi eld onSaturday.• Chris Gabriel scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in the win over the Roadrunners.• USD has been held to less than 60 points in all fi ve WCC games, but have surrendered 70points just once.• The Toreros were picked to fi nish eighth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll.• Head coach Bill Grier returns one starter and fi ve lettermen from last year’s 11-21 team. Fivetrue freshmen are redshirting this season.

About #24 Saint Mary’s• The Gaels are ranked No. 24 in the Coaches Poll this week and in fi rst place in the WCC headinginto Thursday’s game at Gonzaga.• SMC’s 11-game winning streak was snapped Saturday at Vanderbilt (89-70).• The Gaels’ only other losses this season came against No. 4 San Diego State (69-55) and No. 9BYU (74-73). Saint Mary’s best win came against St. John’s (76-71).• The Gaels are ranked No. 8 nationally in scoring at 82.5 ppg.• Head coach Randy Bennett returns All-WCC honorees Mickey McConnell and Matthew Dellavedovafrom a squad that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season.• Bennett is in his 10th year overall and has led SMC to three NCAA Tournaments.

Thank you PILOTNUT, once again Administrator Extraordinaire (, you get it)...2011 version of PilotNation shirts or not??? Dont blame you last time you were a one man band with that...... Vegas or Bust!!! Now that Bulldog & Seattle weekend are ca-put , destroyed, by family commits....

Mesapilot1

Last edited by MesaPilot1 on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:12 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : ...., I found my spell check on my Toshiba, not that I was ever looking for it,lol...)

Hmmm, is that dipping the tip of the plane in your P Club halftime beer to add some weight? Or attaching some pokies that fall off just prior to landing, so as to avoid evidence of cheating?

So, this begs the question... what is the optimal launching spot in Chiles? Surely, someone has been plotting the winning launch point over the years...

I do know that, years ago, a pair of tickets "anywhere United Airlines flew" were won from my seats a few rows behind the UP bench (remember that as the prize for years and years?! Sadly it was someone else using my tickets...).

It seems to me the railing behind the baskets on the upper level would be a good combination of elevation and proximity...

It's really good to see that the team has figured out how to win on nights when Stohl and Nem aren't hitting from the 3-point stripe. It looks like the team is taking more high percentage shots and also converting at the free throw line. It was a low turnover night too (12). Good signs all around...even if it was against a weaker WCC opponent at home.

Hopefully, those will be lessons that the guys take on the road as well. Great to see Timmy D. get his first start. Well deserved! And Waterford was extremely efficient with his minutes coming off the bench as well...

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots led from start-to-finish in a 79-64 victory against the San Diego Toreros Thursday night before 2,001 fans at the Chiles Center. Senior guard Jared Stohl scored a game-high 16 points and Luke Sikma added 13 points and 11 rebounds as Portland improved to a perfect 11-0 at the Chiles Center. Freshman point guard Tim Douglas chipped in 14 points and six assists in his first career start for the Pilots.

Portland (15-6, 3-3 WCC) gained a 38-26 edge in rebounds and shot 49 percent from the field in the game. The Toreros (4-17, 0-6) were held to 40 percent from the field and 4-of-17 from three-point range.

Portland led by as much as 22 points midway through the second period before San Diego mounted a brief rally. The Toreros capped an 11-0 run with a Dorr three-pointer, but the Pilots scored the next five points including a Waterford three-pointer to seal the victory.

Portland was efficient from the free throw line finishing 16-for-19, while the Toreros were 18-for-24 at the charity stripe. The Pilots also had 19 assists on 27 field goals, compared to San Diego’s nine assists on 21 field goals.

The Pilots carried a 35-25 lead into halftime behind Sikma’s 11 points and five rebounds.

Portland will put its home winning streak on the line Saturday when the No. 24-ranked Saint Mary’s Gaels visit the Chiles Center. Saint Mary’s (18-3, 6-0) is alone in first place in the WCC standings after defeating Gonzaga on Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be aired live on ESPNU. Tickets are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets or 90 minutes prior to tip-off at the Pilot Box Office. General admission seating is available for $5 as part of ‘Nacho Night’ with a $4 Nacho bar from 3-4 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Jared Stohl hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points to lead Portland to a 79-64 victory over San Diego on Thursday night.

Luke Sikma added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Pilots (15-6, 3-3 West Coast Conference), who broke a two-game skid. Freshman Tim Douglas, making his first start of the season, had 14 points and six assists.

The Toreros (4-17, 0-6), who were led by Chris Gabriel's 13 points, shot just 39.6 percent (21 of 53), while Portland hit 49 percent (27 of 55). The Pilots also had a 38-26 advantage on the boards but hit just 9 of 24 shots from beyond the arc.

The Pilots led the entire way. San Diego let Portland push its advantage to 65-43 before reeling off 11 unanswered points to narrow the gap to 65-54 with 5:15 left.

Oregonian Game Write-upLot of info from Rev on the starting line-up change. He's sticking with it for the SMC game. That means Tim Douglas will have to guard someone much bigger; of course, he should be used to that.

“When you lose two in a row and you’ve only lost four all year, change for change sake is good,” Reveno said. “It was good for Eric, good for Tim … it was good for everybody just to mix it up.

“I think the result was that the combination of the two guys at our point guard spot played really well.”

There is no telling if the Douglas-for-Waterford switch will stand the test of time, but Reveno said he’ll go with Douglas as a starter again on Saturday when first-place Saint Mary’s visit at 4 p.m.

First off I think TD starting instills a different mentality, not like he just has to jump in there and try to force the issue and be a spark. I think that's part of the problem, when he was just inserted he pressed to try to make the most out of his limited minutes. With the starting minutes it lets him calm down, run the offense and let the game come to him.

From Waterford, he's been just a basket case as of late when he makes mistakes. Bringing him off the bench lets him calm down and be more settled without the "starting point guard" pressure that seems to be getting to him. Hopefully it allows for him to get his composure back.

In both ways I think the switch is a psychological thing, and in the grind of a long season it helps both players. Now the back court talent level goes up significantly with this next game... It should be a nice little test for Timmy, thats for sure, but it's awesome that Rev has the confidence in him this early in his Pilot career.

I like the switch as well. To be fair though, both guys played well in the last game. We still need the defense of guys like Waterford and Rodgers coming off the bench since TD is a smaller guard, but, TD is possibly a better penetrator. It's kind of nice to get a taste of the future a little bit early...

So if you tape flyers to the student section that tell the students to stand up, the first 10 rows will actually do it.

Now we have to teach them that if the Pilots are up 15 and the shot clock is off you're not getting your free Chipotle for 3-pointer #10 because they're going to do the right thing and dribble out the clock.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Now we have to teach them that if the Pilots are up 15 and the shot clock is off you're not getting your free Chipotle for 3-pointer #10 because they're going to do the right thing and dribble out the clock.

First off I think TD starting instills a different mentality, not like he just has to jump in there and try to force the issue and be a spark. I think that's part of the problem, when he was just inserted he pressed to try to make the most out of his limited minutes. With the starting minutes it lets him calm down, run the offense and let the game come to him.

From Waterford, he's been just a basket case as of late when he makes mistakes. Bringing him off the bench lets him calm down and be more settled without the "starting point guard" pressure that seems to be getting to him. Hopefully it allows for him to get his composure back.

In both ways I think the switch is a psychological thing, and in the grind of a long season it helps both players. Now the back court talent level goes up significantly with this next game... It should be a nice little test for Timmy, thats for sure, but it's awesome that Rev has the confidence in him this early in his Pilot

career.

Dtr, th the best thing about most freshman is they become sophmores, I bet even your guys Pooh stunk the joint up with his street ball mentality or was he always as good as Isiah Thomas or Bob Cousy his whole Pilot career......